Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 26, 2023

Good morning™, all!

Well, at least he is finding out details on how she would do it if she is guilty.

‘guttersnipe level’… jeez… what a condescending…

well, you know…

“Such as this one in the closet.”

Good morning™, method revealers !

She starts to look like an honest source of info so why am I still holding her as a possible suspect ?  Dick knows a nice cozy spot for those lips to go. (Have at it, fs.)

Note: I made an error in panel 2. That should read “Whitman Big Little Book.”

Say where is the medieval manuscripts section in this meganormous museum-library of yours, Goldilocks? Eh asking for a friend.

I wonder if that type of case was involved in the murder of the mayor’s friend….?

Boy, Ms. Libris is going to make nothing but friends once she’s among the general prison population.

Ask me how I know that. I know the proper way to transport them.

Her hubris will be her undoing.

Sophisticated lady…she is in her element. Take good notes Tracy. Hope you brought enough paper and a back-up ink pen.

I fell asleep waiting for today’s strip to post.

Let’s see what excitement today brings us!

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzz,,,,,,,

Aha! An inside joke if ever I saw one. There was a Dick Tracy Big Little Book called Dick Tracy Encounters Facey.

Like a large briefcase.

Bubble wrap! This case is starting to pop!

Beginning in the late 19th century the chemicals used in the paper making process left an acidic paper with pages turning yellow and brittle. The pages of older books are often more supple and less brittle than books of the 20th century. Which is why I work hard to protect my big little books.

Papyrus, on the other hand… No, don’t get me started on papyrus.

Guttersnipe level! Why that 2 bit peroxide hussy! She’s talkin’ ’bout me!

Watch her turn out to be a he when it steals the books .

“A scruffy and bad behaved child who spends most of their time on the street” Guttersnipe definition if anyone is curious!

She seems to know a lot about it doesn’t she?!

Art ,once again, stellar!

So Shelley decided on Madonna today?

This is the classic OJ “How I would have done it”

It’s cool man.

Greetings, helpful snoots!

Well, she’s finally sitting down and being helpful. Just when I think she’s our culprit, she starts being helpful by explaining the intricate details of storing, archiving, and transporting manuscripts, books, ephemera. The lady knows her stuff. If she’s not the murdering thief, she could help crack this case open.

In panel two, she has a real old school Joker vibe going on seems to me.

my college included a rare book depository for books owned by the federal government, for a history student it was an amazing resource that other people travelled to use but we just popped into the building. but you got searched when you went in and came out, no pens, only pencils and you had to wear cotton gloves when you handled the books but oh the things you found.

Ms. Libris expertise is making her sound like the guilty party, more and , more.

…Snow Queen’s got a point: Can’t trust the guttersnipe contingent to transport your stuff around hither and yon……..

A long drawn out story that would be better presented in graphic novel form .

Okay, now we’re finally getting some information which might be relevant to the case.

From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

I like the fact that Dick is meticulously writing down everything in this conversation that he doesn’t entirely follow (“Whitman little big books,” “guttersnipe level”) and will be looking them up later to find out if he was being insulted.

Soooo. GASOLINE ALLEY has talking animals now? I’m bleeding from my ears.

A museum art courier would be familiar with all this, but probably not a police detective, unless he happened to have a hobby along these lines. Xaviera is sharing basic information with Tracy, and let us hope that the thief is not at guttersnipe level! —Actually, I think we can be sure the thief is enough of an expert to know how to treat precious manuscripts and rare books properly.

Is Xaviera’s info dump a sign that she is innocent, or is a sign that she is a very clever and confident criminal? I lean toward the latter, chiefly because after weeks of this story we have no other credible, or sufficiently developed, potential villain.

I expect the sparring between Tracy and Ms. Libris to continue for a while, until perhaps she accidentally lets slip some incriminating factoid, or until Tracy himself makes some breakthrough discovery, whether in the the House Libris library or outside of it later….